It's Easy To Make Music

How To Play the Recorder

People of all kinds have taken to playing the recorder inrecent years, charmed by the mellowness of its tones andpleased by the simplicity of the fingering used to make thenotes. To some extent, the instrument's new popularity may bedue to the concerts given in all parts of the country by theAustrian Trapp family. This delightful group has introducedrecorder playing to thousands of people, many of whom havegone right off to music stores to get their own recorders.

The recorder is a very ancient instrument, which has a fas-cinating historical background. It was used by the ancientEgyptians, Assyrians and Greeks and by the Aztecs of Mexico.During the Middle Ages it was played throughout the Euro-pean countries, and its popularity is attested to by the factthat Henry VIII had seventy-five recorders, which he was veryfond of playing. A century and a half later, we find Pepys re-ferring to the recorder in his famous diary. Thus, on April 8,1668, he wrote: "Did buy a recorder, which I do intend tolearn to play on, the sound of it being, of all sounds in theworld, most pleasing to me."

One of the greatest pleasures that recorder players have is inplaying duets, trios, and quartets with their friends. This ispossible because there are soprano, alto, tenor and bass record-ers, each with a different range of notes and each able to playits part as a voice would sing it. The alto is the one that is most
widely used for solo playing, though the soprano is also popular.
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